Lewis v. State
| Decision Date | 12 April 2007 |
| Docket Number | No. 95, Sept. Term, 2006.,95, Sept. Term, 2006. |
| Parties | Lamont Anthony LEWIS v. STATE of Maryland. |
| Court | Court of Special Appeals of Maryland |
Argued before RAKER, CATHELL, HARRELL, BATTAGLIA, GREENE, and LAWRENCE F. RODOWSKY and ALAN M. WILNER (Retired, Specially Assigned), JJ.
Petitioner, Lamont Anthony Lewis, seeks review of the denial of his motion to suppress the seizure of marijuana discovered during a traffic stop after Lewis "almost" struck a police car. We hold that the court erred in denying Lewis's motion because the police did not have an articulable reasonable suspicion to stop Lewis based upon the fact that he "almost" hit the car.
On April 27, 2005,1 at approximately 10:45 p.m., Sergeant Jeffery Jocuns, Detective Anthony Vaith, and Officer Tisha Anderson2 of the Baltimore City Police Department were in a marked police cruiser near the intersection of Oswego Avenue and Park Heights Avenue in Baltimore City, an area described as an "open air drug market," and "known for violent crime and drug distribution activity." Sergeant Jocuns accompanied Detective Vaith and Officer Campbell while they were looking for a rape suspect described in a "flyer."
Detective Vaith, the driver, and Sergeant Jocuns, the passenger in the front seat, observed a tan sports utility vehicle parked on the side of the road, which was occupied by two individuals: a man in the driver's seat, later identified as Lewis, and a woman in the front passenger's seat, subsequently identified as Ms. Parksdale. According to the officers, Lewis and Ms. Parksdale started acting nervously, abruptly pushing their hands down under the vehicle's console. Sergeant Jocuns testified that he immediately thought about the flyer and was concerned that a rape could be in progress. According to Sergeant Jocuns, the officers then proceeded past Lewis's vehicle, and stopped the police cruiser "in the street . . . not at the curb," "a little bit in front of the SUV." Detective Vaith, the driver, recounted the events that transpired thereafter:
[W]e pulled down a little bit farther. I didn't want to stop the vehicle directly next to the defendant's vehicle because I didn't know if there was a weapon and I didn't want to put myself or anyone else in the vehicle in harms way. So I pulled down. At that point the defendant activated his turn signal and started to pull out into the street nearly striking the back of my vehicle. That was — at that point that's when Sergeant Jocuns said "[H]e almost hit your vehicle what's this guy doing?" So I pulled to the side and parked and got out as well as Sergeant Jocuns. We both approached the vehicle. Sergeant Jocuns advised that he observed the defendant still making movements in the console area. At that point for officer safety Sergeant Jocuns requested the defendant to exit the vehicle. When he did so a cell phone and a plastic bag fell to the ground. My attention was diverted at that point. Because at that point the vehicle was not placed in gear and it started to drift down the street. I ran and jumped in the vehicle. Put the brakes on it. Put the car in park. Sergeant Jocuns was dealing with the defendant at that point. I walked around the other side of the vehicle and requested that the passenger exit the vehicle. And then that's when I was notified by Sergeant Jocuns that there was marijuana in the vehicle — or it came out of the vehicle when the driver exited.
* * *
I went back to the vehicle to see if there was anything in the general area that I observed the defendant making movements at, which was a console area. And there was between the passenger side seat and the center console was a marijuana cigarette. I recovered that. There was no other items found in the vehicle. When I returned back to the area where the defendant — Ms. Parksdale was I began to explain the situation that there was marijuana found falling from the defendant as he exited the vehicle. And then there was marijuana found in the passenger side of the vehicle. And that's when the defendant had said everything in the vehicle was his. She didn't have anything to do with it. And explained on several occasions that it was all his.
This testimony, thus, reflects that after seeing the two individuals in a car parked on Oswego Avenue, the officers drove the police cruiser slowly by Lewis's SUV and stopped the police cruiser while in the street just in front of the SUV. At that point, Lewis activated his left turn signal and started to pull his vehicle into the street, almost striking the back of the police cruiser. Lewis thereupon stopped his vehicle, and Detective Vaith pulled to the side of the street and parked the police cruiser fifteen to twenty feet in front of the SUV. Detective Vaith and Sergeant Jocuns both got out, and Sergeant Jocuns requested that Lewis get out of the vehicle after he and the Detective observed more movements in the console area. When Lewis stepped out, a plastic bag containing marijuana fell to the ground, and the SUV, driverless, drifted approximately twenty feet down Oswego Avenue.
Lewis was subsequently charged with possession of a controlled dangerous substance, marijuana, in violation of Section 5-601(c)(2) of the Criminal Law Article.3 Prior to trial, Lewis filed a motion to suppress the marijuana that was seized from him, as well as the subsequent statements. During the hearing on the motion, only Sergeant Jocuns and Detective Vaith testified. Following this testimony, the State argued that the incident with Lewis was equivalent to an investigatory traffic stop because the officers had the right to stop Lewis when his SUV "almost" hit the police cruiser when Lewis pulled away from the curb. The State also asserted that it was appropriate for officer safety for Sergeant Jocuns to ask Lewis to get out of the SUV. Additionally, the State postured that the plastic bag of marijuana provided the officers with probable cause to arrest Lewis and, therefore, the subsequent search of his vehicle qualified as a search incident to an arrest.
Conversely, Lewis's counsel argued that the fact that Lewis put on his turn signal, looked at the officers, and then pulled into the street "almost" hitting the police car did not provide reasonable articulable suspicion to effectuate a stop because there was no traffic infraction. His counsel also asserted that Lewis was not issued any traffic citation, reflecting that he broke no law.
At the conclusion of the suppression hearing, the Judge granted the suppression motion as to the evidence of the discarded marijuana cigarette and Lewis's statements of ownership,4 but denied the motion as to the plastic bag of marijuana that fell from the vehicle when Lewis got out of the SUV; the judge, in so doing, ruled that the officers had a reasonable suspicion to stop Lewis because he "almost" hit the police car:
I find from the evidence that the police officers were cruising in northwest Baltimore in the vicinity of Park Heights Avenue and Oswego Avenue. When they made a turn into Oswego and saw a vehicle being operated by the defendant, which was stopped or parked. And they saw some hand motions, which gave them some suspicion. I won't call it reasonable suspicion. I'll call it a hunch. There was utterly no evidence whatsoever or no reason to think there was any possible attempted rape going on. And, but for one fact I would rule that the police officer had no right to ask the defendant to come out of the car. However, once the car moved forward, which it had a right to do and according to — well, I'm going to Officer Vaith — he said — one of them said what's wrong with this guy, what's he up to. Almost hitting the police car. Saying what's this guy doing. It was Officer Vaith's testimony. They had a right to investigate for purposes of a traffic stop. Now, before then I would say they did not have articulable suspicion based on same hand movement. The most troubling part for is does he have a right to ask the defendant to get out of the car. Okay. A high crime area. We know that some people do have weapons. They do have guns. We know that police officers have been killed made traffic stops by people who had guns. I don't remember the year, but there was a State Trooper, his I believe was Wolf, I think recently the defendant or one of the defendant's in this case was denied post-conviction relief. Not to the fact that case has anything to do with this other than would it be appropriate for officer safety to ask him to get out of the car? I say, yes. Now, but with the fact that according to the testimony the marijuana just rolled out — it just fell out at that point in time. Asking him to get out for the investigative purpose in my view at that juncture was not a seizure. When the drugs rolled out there was reason to believe that a crime had been committed. Possession of a controlled dangerous substance, marijuana. Cause the reason I stated I'm not granting the motion to suppress that marijuana.
Lewis was subsequently convicted of possession of a controlled dangerous substance, marijuana, and sentenced to one year imprisonment. Lewis noted an appeal to the Court of Special Appeals, and subsequently this Court issued, on its own initiative, a writ of certiorari prior to any proceedings in the intermediate appellate court. Lewis v. State, 396 Md. 11, 912 A.2d 647 (2006). Lewis's brief presents the following issue:
Did the trial court err in denying Appellant's motion to suppress the marijuana?
We hold that the trial court erred in denying Lewis's motion to suppress the marijuana because the police did not have justification to conduct the investigatory traffic stop based upon the fact...
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